Building with girls' hostel catches fire, 70 evacuated

NANDED: A massive fire broke out in a multi-storey building with a private girls' hostel on three floors in the Anand Nagar Chowk area of Nanded, in the early hours of Wednesday. Fire brigade personnel rushed to the spot and evacuated all 70 hostel residents safely before dousing the fire, thus avoiding a major tragedy.

It started around 4.50am from the kitchen of a small eatery on the ground floor, said Keroji Dasare, fire officer with Nanded Municipal Corporation.

"The building has three storeys above the ground floor. The fire started in the eatery and engulfed a mobile shop in the same building on the ground floor. We rushed to the spot and prevented the fire from spreading to the top floors where the girls stay," he said.

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Dasare said the entrance of the eatery, which had a staircase to access the floors above, was cleared and the 70 girls were brought out in small groups.

"There were multiple LPG cylinders in the eatery. We removed these cylinders," he said. The private hostel housed girls on a room-sharing basis.

The cause of the fire is yet to be identified, but it is believed to be a short circuit.

According to official estimates, the damages in the eatery stood at around Rs 5 lakh, while those in the mobile shop stood at around Rs 8 lakh. "Besides saving human lives, we saved property and goods worth around Rs 70 lakh," said authorities of the fire brigade.